Euro 2012 Odds and Betting Preview: Spain favourites to make it three major tournaments on the spin

POLAND AND UKRAINE - Sports fans around the world are set for a fantastic summer featuring first the European Championships, followed by the London Olympics, and we take a look at the early betting for the first of those events, which takes place in June.

Spain are currently favourites to win the tournament, which is no surprise when considering the fact that David Silva, who has had such a good season in the Premier League, is not even a first team regular for the side. They look like bankers when looking at their teamsheet, but there are reasons to believe that they can be opposed, even though they won this tournament in 2008 and then the World Cup in 2010.

Firstly, the fact that they rely so heavily on Barcelona players is a negative, as at the moment Barca are severly underachieving their, admittedly very high, expectations. All of the Barcelona players are likely to have played at lot of matches this season, and they might not be as sharp as possible after a long season.

The second reason for wanting to oppose Spain is that their strikeforce no longer looks as potent as it did before the World Cup. Fernando Torres has been in dire form since joining Chelsea, and David Villa was not having a fantastic season before he broke his leg, which will probably be healed in time for the Euros, but he may not be in top form as a result of it. Spain's next striker after Torres and Villa is Fernando Llorente, who is not in the same league. While their midfield is packed with creative talent, none of them are especially prolific, and they may struggle to score enough goals as a result. At a best price of 5/2 with bet365, the value appears to be elsewhere.

Germany are second favourites for the tournament, at a top price of 7/2 with Paddy Power. Joachim Low's side came through qualification with a 100% record, and also performed well in the World Cup, reaching the semi-finals before losing to Spain. Germany are a very young side, and should be improving all the time, but have been dealt a very tough group, with the Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark likely to offer a stern test.

The Netherlands are next in the betting, priced at 15/2 with bet365, and the World Cup runners-up also had a sterling record in qualifying, winning nine matches and losing just one. Despite their 3-0 loss to Germany in a friendly, the Holland squad is full of attacking talent, and as they proved in the World Cup, they are capable of putting any team to the sword. The 15/2 looks tempting.

Despite just having lost their coach Fabio Capello, England are the fourth favourites for the tournament, generally available at 9/1. Having a change-around in the staff is hardly ideal at this point, and the fact that the current favourite to succeed Capello, Harry Redknapp, might not want to take charge untill after he has finished the season with Tottenham is another negative. This upheaval, coupled with the fact that star-player Wayne Rooney will miss the first two games of a tough group means that it is hard to fancy England at this price.

Italy are next most likely to triumph in Eastern Europe, priced at a general 14/1. They went unbeaten in their qualifying campaign, winning all but two matches, and will be looking for their second win in this tournament, having won it in 1968. The Italians lost to Uruguay in their last friendly, and will be looking to bounce back from that in their friendly against the USA at the end of the month.

Laurent Blanc's France side are a best priced 16/1 with BetVictor, and although their qualification campaign was not the most impressive, they did the job, and they were on something of a rebuilding mission after a dire effort in the World Cup in South Africa. Despite this, their squad is full of talent, and Blanc proved himself to be an astute manager while in charge of Bordeaux. The 16/1 could represent value here.

Portugal are at 20/1 with bet365, but had to qualify via a playoff after finishing second to Denmark in the qualification group. They will be hoping for some magic from Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, but their squad lacks the depth of some of the leading contenders, and it is hard to imagine them going past the semi-finals.

Euro 2012 winner betting odds